If you withdraw cash from your account using an ATM, you will be given the amount you select in local currency, which will be withdrawn from your bank account using the best possible exchange rate, better than you will get any other way. Your bank may add a service charge, but you will almost always do better on this transaction than by exchanging cash or travelers' cheques.
Any branch of any bank will exchange US cash or travellers' checks. Many will exchange British pounds. For other currencies, you may have to go to a central branch. In some cities, there may be specialized foreign exchange dealers. Note that banks tend to close early -- often at 3 pm Mon-Thu, 5 or 6 pm Fridays, and many are closed all day Saturdays.
Specialized foreign exchange businesses also operate in major cities; rates and fees may vary so shop around if you plan to use their services.
US cash is accepted at most stores but you won't get a very good exchange rate. Remember that they're doing you a favor by accepting it at all.
Q: Will my bank machine (ATM) card work in Canada?
A: It will if your bank is on the Plus or Cirrus networks.
Almost all Canadian financial institutions have automatic teller machines (ATMs), and you'll also find ATMs located in large and small shopping centers, airports, train stations, and even many gas stations and corner stores.
Canadian financial institutions include banks, credit unions, and trust companies. Each institution has a brand name for its ATM service, such as Instabank, Instant Teller, Cashstop, Green Machine, and so on.
You may hear about 'Interac'; this is the Canadian domestic network for interbank electronic funds transfers, which all Canadian banks are a member of. It does not operate internationally and is of no use to visitors from outside the country. Some bank staff are not familiar with international services and will talk only about Interac since it's all they know.
There are two international networks operating in Canada: the Plus Network (allied with the Visa credit card) and Cirrus (allied with MasterCard). All Canadian financial institutions are members of one or the other; the Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank are members of both. Check with your home bank before you leave and find out which network (if any) your card will operate on. Your bank should have a book it can give you which lists banks and bank machine locations worldwide on the network which it is a member of.
PLUS network members in Canada include: Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia (Scotiabank), Canada Trust, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), Laurentian Bank, Royal Bank, Toronto-Dominion (TD) Bank, and caisses populaires (francophone credit unions).
CIRRUS network members in Canada include: Bank of Montreal, Credit Unions, National Bank, National Trust, and Royal Bank.
Most of these institutions are major national organizations with branches across the country. In Quebec the most common financial institutions are the caisses populaires (credit unions).
Other banks, trust companies, and credit unions may or may not be members of these networks.
You can look up ATM locations online: MasterCard and Cirrus ATMs, VISA and Plus ATMs.
Q: Will my credit card be accepted?
A: Do you have one of the following...?
Visa and MasterCard are both accepted almost anywhere. American Express is less commonly used but is accepted at larger stores and gas station chains. Discover is not very common, but is accepted at large stores.
Q: Do I have to pay sales tax?
A: Yes but you may be able to get a refund; keep your receipts.
Sales taxes vary from province to province. In most provinces, most things that you buy have two point-of-sale taxes on them: a 7% federal tax called the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a provincial sales tax (PST) which varies from province to province. In most of Canada, the PST and GST are calculated separately on the base price of the item; in Quebec and Prince Edward Island, the GST is added to the price of the item, and then the PST is calculated on the total. There is no PST in Alberta, the Yukon, or the Northwest Territories. In Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, you pay a single 15% tax (the Harmonized Sales Tax, HST) instead of the GST and PST. (See the table below)
Province GST PST HST
British Columbia 7% 7% No
Alberta 7% No No
Saskatchewan 7% 8% No
Manitoba 7% 7% No
Ontario 7% 8% No
Quebec 7% 6.5% (on top of GST) No
Prince Edward Island 7% 10% (on top of GST) No
Newfoundland No No 15%
Nova Scotia No No 15%
New Brunswick No No 15%
Yukon Territory 7% No No
Northwest Territories 7% No No
Some items (food at grocery stores, for example) are not taxed. In some stores, the GST is already included in the price tag, but most often it is added at the point of sale. (You'll see square green signs telling you one way or the other.) The PST is almost always added at the cash register.
Visitors can get refunds on the GST and HST, as well as the Quebec and Manitoba provincial sales taxes, on certain items. In general, you can get taxes refunded on anything you take home or have shipped home, and on accommodations. Tax is not refunded on meals, even if included in your hotel bill. You will have to send in your original receipts and you won't get them back. Credit card charge slips and photocopies of receipts are not accepted.
You can get the complete information and application forms at border-crossing points, most duty-free stores, most tourist information centres, and online at Revenue Canada's web site. You may be able to get your GST back on the spot in cash at a Duty-Free store as you leave the country (but not if you leave at an airport).
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Q: I want to buy stamps for a postcard...
A: In Canada a normal-size postcard and a minimum-weight letter cost the same, and are automatically sent by air. Rates were last increased January 1, 1999, to:
Within Canada: 46 cents
To the USA: 55 cents
To anywhere else: 95 cents
These are the values printed on the stamps; when you buy them, you also have to pay the 7% national Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Postal services are most frequently available at 'retail postal outlets', typically located at the back of drug and convenience stores. These are essentially mini post offices. Full post offices are actually fairly few in number. Booklets of stamps are available in many stores, including most convenience stores and grocery stores, even if they don't have a 'retail postal outlet', but you probably won't be able to buy single stamps. You may find the occasional coin-operated stamp vending machine but they offer fixed -- and sometimes very strange -- combinations of stamps.
Q: What time is it in Canada?
A: Canada has 6 time zones. Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern time are at one-hour intervals, exactly as in the US. But the sequence continues with Atlantic Time, one hour ahead of Eastern. The last time zone is an oddball, though: Newfoundland Time is only 30 minutes ahead of Atlantic Time.
(You may have heard of a 7th zone called Yukon time, but this is obsolete. The Yukon Territory keeps Pacific time.)
Daylight Saving Time (summer time) is observed according to the same rules as in the US. Clocks are advanced one hour on the first Sunday in April. The return to Standard Time (winter time) is on the last Sunday in October. There is one exception: most of Saskatchewan does not observe DST, remaining on Central Standard Time all year.
When it's 9 am in Vancouver or Los Angeles, it's 10 am in Edmonton or Denver, 11 am in Winnipeg or Chicago, 12 noon in Toronto or New York, 1 pm in Halifax, 1:30 pm in St. John's, 5 pm(*) in London, and 6 pm(*) in Paris. (*Except for one week in the spring, when Europe observes summer time but Canada is not yet on DST.)
Q: I want to know something about Canadian history, politics, universities...
A: Not my department....
FAQs for soc.culture.Canada: (no longer maintained)
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/canada-faq/part1
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/news.answers/canada-faq/part2
Canadiana by Stewart Clamen
http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/clamen/misc/Canadiana/README.html
http://www.cs.cmu.edu:8001/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/clamen/misc/Canadiana
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Greyhound of Canada operates roughly from Toronto westwards. Phone 800-661-8747 in Canada. There is no toll-free number in the USA; call directory assistance for the Greyhound office or bus depot in the nearest Canadian city. Greyhound in the USA and Greyhound Canada are completely separate companies.
In the east, there are bus companies in each province and if you take long trips you'll have to transfer. In the west, Greyhound serves the major centres and provincial bus companies serve smaller towns.
Here are the phone numbers for the provincial companies I know about:
Newfoundland: Terra Transport
Nova Scotia: Acadia Lines
Halifax 902-454-9321
New Brunswick: SMT
Fredericton 506-458-6000
Quebec: Orleans Express
Quebec City 418-525-3000
Montreal 514-842-2281 (Information for all companies serving Montreal)
Ontario: Voyageur
Ottawa 613-238-5900
Toronto 416-393-7911
Manitoba: Grey Goose
Winnipeg 204-786-8891
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National passenger rail service is operated by Via Rail. Despite cutbacks, it is still possible to go all the way from Vancouver to Halifax by train. You have to change trains at Toronto and at Montreal and the schedules are such that you must get off the train and make at least one overnight stop, which will be in Toronto if you're traveling east, or in either Toronto or Montreal if you're headed west. The Toronto-Vancouver train runs three times a week. In southern Ontario and Quebec, trains run several times a day between major centres.
For fares and schedules, consult a travel agent, see VIA Rail's web site, or telephone:
Newfoundland: 800-561-3926
Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick: 800-561-3952
Halifax NS: 902-429-8421
St John NB: 902-642-2916
Moncton NB: 902-857-9830
Quebec: 800-361-5390
Montreal: 514-871-1331
Quebec City: 418-692-3940
Ontario: 800-361-1235
Hamilton: 905-522-7533
Kingston: 613-544-5600
London: 519-672-5722
Ottawa: 613-244-8289
Toronto: 416-366-8411
Windsor: 519-256-5511
The West: 800-561-8630
That's MB, SK, AB, BC, YT, NT, and north-western Ontario (area code 807)
Outside Canada, consult a travel agent, or phone VIA Rail in the nearest major Canadian city.
There are also regional railroads in some parts of the country. Here are a few we know about:
BC Rail -- North Vancouver - Squamish - Whistler - Lillooet - Prince George (and intermediate points; in summer a steam train runs from North Vancouver to Squamish) Phone 604-631-3500.
Rocky Mountaineer Railtours -- Vancouver-Kamloops, Kamloops-Banff-Calgary, Kamloops-Jasper. Not a 'normal' train; runs summer tourist excursion packages only which include hotel in Kamloops, meals, etc. Phone 800-665-7245 or 604-984-3315, email rkymtn@fleethouse.com.
White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad -- summer tourist excursions from Skagway, Alaska into the northwest corner of British Columbia. Follows the route of the old Klondike gold rush train. Phone 800-343-7373 (800-478-7373 in NT, YT, and northern BC) or 907-983-2217; fax 907-983-2734.
Algoma Central -- Sault Ste. Marie (Ont.) - Agawa Canyon - Hearst (and intermediate points, but also nonstop summer tourist trains between Sault Ste. Marie and the canyon). Phone 705-946-7300.
Ontario Northland -- Toronto - North Bay - Cochrane - Moosonee (and intermediate points). Phone 800-268-9281 (in Ontario only) or 416-965-4268 (Toronto) or 705-472-4500 (North Bay).
Quebec North Shore & Labrador -- Sept-Iles - Labrador City - Schefferville. Phone 418-968-7806.
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Q: Is there a national rail pass like the Eurailpass, Britrailpass, etc.?
A: There is a 'Canrailpass', but remember that Canada's rail system is not as comprehensive or frequent as the European system, so don't have the same expectations of being able to walk into a train station at any time and just hop on a train. Trains are fairly frequent within the Quebec-Windsor corridor but if you're only travelling within the corridor it'll be hard to make the pass pay for itself. You can travel across the country on a Canrailpass, but keep in mind that the western transcontinental train only comes through three times a week, so if you get off, you'll have to wait two days for the next train. Also, the popular long distance trains tend to be full, and only a limited number of Canrailpass users are allowed on a train, so you need to reserve in advance for each trip.
The pass buys you an economy coach seat, not sleeping car accommodation. In the summer, if you want to upgrade to a sleeping car on the popular Toronto-Vancouver route, you may do so at most 2 weeks ahead, giving non-pass riders first chance at the sleepers. The pass is valid only on VIA Rail, not on any regional railways. The pass is sold both inside and outside Canada.
Starting in 1998, there is also a new 'North American Rail Pass' available which is good for both VIA and Amtrak (USA) service.
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TOURIST INFORMATION OFFICES
See Tourism Offices Worldwide Directory for contact information for Canadian tourism offices located around the world.
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Rec.Travel Library
The World
North America
Canada
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